Panoptic visualization of a document according to the structure thereof

ABSTRACT

A system is provided for panoptic visualization of a document having a structure defined according to a particular schema. The system is configured to generate a layout of pages of the document, panoptically arranged in a manner that reflects logical relationships between the pages according to the structure of the document, which may in turn reflect relationships between the subjects or their objects depicted by the content. These logical relationships may be established by links between pages, which may be identified by information provided in associated metadata for the pages. This type of arrangement may enable a user to see the content in a single view, and in an arrangement that facilitates a better understanding of the relationships between the content and their subjects or objects, which may be otherwise difficult to comprehend.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/414,987, entitled: Panoptic Visualization Document Layout, U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/414,964, entitled: Panoptic VisualizationDocument Navigation, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/414,940,entitled: Panoptic Visualization Document Collection, all of which filedon Mar. 8, 2012; and which claim priority to respective ones of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/578,349, entitled: PanopticVisualization Document Layout, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.61/578,357, entitled: Panoptic Visualization Document Navigation, andU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/578,361, entitled: PanopticVisualization Document Collection, all of which filed on Dec. 21, 2011.The present application is also related to U.S. patent application Ser.No. 13/072,217, entitled: Image Management and Presentation, filed onMar. 25, 2011, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/436,585, entitled: Navigation to Aircraft MaintenanceInformation Using Tiled 2D Illustrations, filed on Jan. 26, 2011. Thecontents of all of the aforementioned are incorporated herein byreference in their entireties.

TECHNOLOGICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to panoptic visualization ofdocuments and, in particular, to panoptic visualization of documents ortheir document components in a manner that reflects logicalrelationships between the documents/components according to thestructure thereof.

BACKGROUND

Information printed about a topic is often printed on multiple pagesbecause the information does not fit on a single page and/or is moreeffectively presented using multiple pages. The multiple pages may be inthe same source or in multiple sources. For example, technical drawingsof an aircraft may be printed such that different portions of the samediagram may be printed on different pages. Drawings of one assembly onthe aircraft may be contained in one library or source, while drawingsof another assembly may be contained in a second library or source.

Printed information may also be printed such that one document containsone level of detail about an object, while a second document contains asecond level of detail about the same object. For example, a diagram ofan aircraft may be printed such that the exterior of the aircraft isvisible in the diagram. Another diagram of the same aircraft may beprinted such that the exterior of the aircraft is obscured, but theinterior of the aircraft is presented. Thus, a reader may use differentdiagrams to learn different information about the same object.

As another example, wiring diagrams of wiring systems are often printedacross multiple pages because the graphical and textual informationpresented in the wiring diagram is too great to fit on a single page.Thus, a reader may change documents multiple times to learn informationabout an entire wiring system.

Documents such as engineering diagrams, technical drawings, wiringdiagrams, and other suitable document types may be used in themaintenance of an aircraft. The documents are created to be viewed inprinted form. However, such documents are commonly stored in electronicform and viewed on a display device of a data processing system. As aresult, the reader looks through different documents that may be ondifferent types of media. This type of review may be more time-consumingthan desired to find information about an aircraft.

Documents regarding a complex system of systems such as an aircraft maytherefore contain large amounts of information regarding the complexsystem and its components, subsystems and parts, and the connections andrelationships among the respective elements of the complex system. Thecomplexity of the system and the large amount of information oftenrequired to describe the system may increase not only the time requiredto study the documents, but the difficulty in comprehending the complexsystem and its elements. A user may not only require the time to reviewdocuments containing large amounts of information, but may also requirethe time and endure the difficulty of studying the information tounderstand the ways in which the complex system and its elements relateto each other.

Therefore, it may be desirable to have a method and apparatus that takesinto account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well aspossibly other issues.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Example embodiments of the present disclosure are generally directed toa panoptic visualization document layout system, and correspondingmethod and computer-readable storage medium. In accordance with exampleembodiments, media content of a document collection may be panopticallyarranged in a manner that reflects logical relationships between thecontent, such as according to a structure of the document. Thearrangement may enable a user to see the content in a single view, andin an arrangement that facilitates a better understanding of therelationships between the content and the subjects or objects depictedby the content, which may be otherwise difficult to comprehend. In thecontext of a complex system such as an aircraft including a number ofcomponents, subsystems and parts, the arrangement may not only lessenthe time required to review documents containing large amounts ofinformation, but may also lessen the time required and ease thedifficulty studying the information to understand the ways in which thecomplex system and its elements relate to each other. Various ones ofthe relationships may be customizable, which when reflected in apanoptic arrangement, may further facilitate the understanding ofvarious users. Example embodiments may therefore ease the difficulty andtime required to search even the most massive amounts of informationcontained in some document collections.

According to one aspect of example embodiments, a system is provided forpanoptic visualization of a document having a structure definedaccording to a particular schema, which structure in one example may bereflected in the media content of the one or more pages of the document,or encoded in the document. The system includes a document parser,colligater and layout engine. The document parser is configured toreceive and disassemble an electronic document into a plurality ofconstituent pages each of which includes respective media content. Thecolligater is configured to colligate the pages, including beingconfigured to provide associated metadata for each page of theplurality. The associated metadata identifies a link between the pageand one or more other pages of the plurality, and the link establishes alogical relationship between the respective pages according to thestructure of the document. The layout engine is in turn configured togenerate a layout of pages of the document, and communicate the layout.In this regard, the layout includes a panoptic arrangement of visualrepresentations of the pages of the layout according to the associatedmetadata of the respective pages.

The system may also include a search engine coupled to the layout engineand configured to receive a request for media content and identify apage including the requested media content, with the identified pagebeing of the document. In this example, the layout engine may beconfigured to retrieve pages of the document including the identifiedpage and other page(s) identified according to the associated metadatafor the identified page. In this regard, the respective associatedmetadata may further include information identifying link(s) between theidentified page and respective other page(s). Also in this example, thelayout engine may be configured to generate a layout of the retrievedpages.

In one example, the system may further include a navigation enginecoupled to the layout engine and configured to select navigationoption(s) from a plurality of navigation options for navigating a visualpresentation of the layout. In one example, the navigation engine isconfigured to select the navigation option(s) according to theassociated metadata for the pages of the layout. The navigation enginemay also be configured to communicate the selected navigation options.

In one example, the associated metadata for each page also includesinformation specifying a size, location and/or depth of the visualrepresentation of the respective page in the layout, according to whichthe layout engine may be configured to generate the layout. In a furtherexample, for each of one or more of the pages of the layout, the pagemay be in a state including visual representations at respectiveresolutions of the page, and the associated metadata may provideinformation specifying at least the size of the visual representation ofthe respective page in the layout. For each of one or more of the pagesof the layout, then, the layout engine being configured to generate thelayout may include being configured to retrieve the page for the visualrepresentation at a resolution that matches the size specified by theinformation provided in the associated metadata. And in one example, foreach of one or more of the pages of the layout, the associated metadatamay provide information specifying at least the size of the visualrepresentation of the respective page in the layout, with the size beingspecified relative to one or more others of the retrieved pages.

In other aspects of example embodiments, a method and computer-readablestorage medium are provided for panoptic visualization of a document Thefeatures, functions and advantages discussed herein may be achievedindependently in various example embodiments or may be combined in yetother example embodiments further details of which may be seen withreference to the following description and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING(S)

Having thus described example embodiments of the disclosure in generalterms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, whichare not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a panoptic visualization system inaccordance with an example embodiment;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a panoptic visualization documentcollection system in accordance with one example embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a panoptic visualization document layoutsystem in accordance with one example embodiment;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a panoptic visualization documentnavigation system in accordance with one example embodiment;

FIGS. 5-16, which schematically illustrate examples of suitable layoutmodels according to example embodiments;

FIG. 17 is an operational diagram of operations that may be performed bya panoptic visualization system according to one example embodiment; and

FIGS. 18-23 depict example layouts of pages that may be displayed in aGUI that has a predetermined viewable area, and which may be navigatedby a user, according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described morefully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in whichsome, but not all embodiments of the disclosure are shown. Indeed,various embodiments of the disclosure may be embodied in many differentforms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments setforth herein; rather, these example embodiments are provided so thatthis disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey thescope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. For example, unlessotherwise indicated, reference something as being a first, second or thelike should not be construed to imply a particular order. Also,something may be described as being above something else (unlessotherwise indicated) may instead be below, and vice versa; andsimilarly, something described as being to the left of something elsemay instead be to the right, and vice versa. Like reference numeralsrefer to like elements throughout.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally topanoptic visualization of documents and, in particular, to panopticvisualization of documents or their document components in a manner thatreflects logical relationships between the documents/componentsaccording to their structure. Example embodiments will be primarilydescribed in conjunction with aerospace applications. It should beunderstood, however, that example embodiments may be utilized inconjunction with a variety of other applications, both in the aerospaceindustry and outside of the aerospace industry.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a panoptic visualization system 100 isillustrated according to example embodiments of the present disclosure.The system may include any of a number of different subsystems (each anindividual system) for performing one or more functions or operationswith respect to one or more electronic documents. As shown, for example,the system may include a document collection system 102, document layoutsystem 104 and/or document navigation system 106. Although being shownas part of the panoptic visualization system, one or more of thedocument collection system, layout system and/or navigation system mayinstead be separate from but in communication with the panopticvisualization system. It should also be understood that one or more ofthe subsystems may function or operate as a separate system withoutregard to others of the subsystems. And further, it should be understoodthat the panoptic visualization system may include one or moreadditional or alternative subsystems than those shown in FIG. 1.

As described herein, an electronic document (or simply document) may beany electronic media content capable of being visualized in anelectronic and/or printed (or printable) form. The media content of adocument may include one or more of textual, graphical or other visualcontent such as still images, video or the like. The document may be ofa number of different types of documents in which the type of documentmay be defined by one or more characteristics of the document such asits format, media content or the like. Examples of suitable types ofdocuments include computer-aided design documents (e.g., CAD,CATDrawing, CATPart, CATProduct, CATProcess, cgr, DWG, DXF, DWF, etc.),text-based documents (e.g., ANS, ASC, DOC, DOCX, HTML, PDF, RTF, TXT,WPD, etc.), presentation documents (e.g., PDP, PPT, etc.), graphicsdocuments (e.g., BMP, GIF, JPEG, JP2, PNG, PSD, PSP, RAW, TIFF, etc.),video documents (e.g., AVI, MPEG, QuickTime, WMV, etc.) or the like.Other examples of suitable types of documents include single orcollections of legal documents (e.g., court decisions, briefs, patents,etc.), books, manuals, magazines or trade publications, articles, webpages, screenshots, service bulletins, engineering diagrams, warranties,technical drawings, wiring diagrams or the like. And still furtherexamples of suitable types of documents include data sets such asengineering design data, wiring data, troubleshooting data, businessdata or the like.

A document may be composed of one or more constituent documentcomponents that may be groupings of its media content such as betweenbasic breaking points. The document components may depend on the type ofdocument and may include, for example, electronic pages, slides,diagrams, drawings, still images, videos or the like. The documentcomponent may at times be generally referred to as a “page,” althoughthe document component need not necessarily be an electronic page as itmay include other types of components. In instances in which a documentincludes only one component, the document and its component may be oneand the same.

As described herein, reference may be made to a document composed ofconstituent pages. It should be understood, however, that exampleembodiments may be equally applicable to a group (collection) ofdocuments composed of constituent documents, which may or may not befurther composed of constituent pages. Thus, functions performed withrespect to a document may be equally performed with respect to a groupof documents, and functions performed with respect to a page may beequally performed with respect to a constituent document.

Each page may be formed of data from which a visual representation of it(or rather its media content) may be generated in an electronic and/orprinted (or printable) form. The visual representation of a page may attimes be generally referred to as simply the page or as an “image,”although the page need not necessarily include a still image as it mayinclude other types of media content.

A page may include media content that has one or more subjects andincludes one or more objects reflecting or otherwise forming thesubject(s). At times, a page may therefore be said to depict itssubject(s) and/or object(s) of its subject(s). As an example, a page mayhave an aircraft as its subject and include an exterior or interior viewor sections of the exterior/interior view of the aircraft as object(s),or the page may have the exterior/interior view as its subject andinclude the sections of the exterior view as objects. As anotherexample, a page may have an aircraft instrument panel as its subject andinclude gauges of the instrument panel as subjects.

In various examples, a document may be structured according to aparticular schema, and in at least some instances may be structured in ahierarchical manner. For example, a book or manual may be structuredinto chapters each of which includes sections, subsections or the like.In each chapter, section or subsection, the book/manual may includemedia content, which again may include textual, graphical or othervisual content such as still images, video or the like. In anotherexample, a magazine or trade publication may be structured intoarticles, each of which may include media content. In yet anotherexample, a collection of legal documents may be structured according tocase, and for a case, documents may be structured in a time sequenceaccording to their dates.

The structure of a document may be reflected in any of a number ofdifferent manners. In one example, the structure may be user-defined. Inanother example, the structure may be reflected in the media content ofone or more pages of the document itself, such as in a table ofcontents. In yet another example, the structure may be encoded in thedocument such as by appropriate bookmarks, markup or the like. Examplesof suitable markup include those based on the standard generalizedmarkup language (SGML) including hypertext markup language (HTML),extensible markup language (XML), extensible HTML (XHTML) or the like.The schema according to which the document may be structured may beprovided in any of a number of different manners, such as a documenttype definition (DTDs), XML schema, document structure description(DSD), regular language for XML next generation (RELAX NG) or the like.

In the aircraft industry, for example, Airlines for America (A4A),formerly the Air Transport Association of America (ATA) has released anumber of specifications including schema for structuring aircraftmaintenance and operations documents. The ATA iSpec 2200, for example,specifies DTDs for documents such as an aircraft illustrated partscatalog (AIPC), aircraft maintenance manual (AMM), aircraft recoverymanual (ARM), component maintenance manual (CMM), component maintenancemanual parts list (CMMIPL), consumable products manual (CPM), engine(shop) manual (EM), engine cleaning inspection and repair manual (CIR),engine illustrated parts catalog (EIPC), engine parts configurationmanagement section (EPCM), fault reporting and fault isolation manual(FRM/FIM), flight crew operations manual (FCOM), illustrated tool andequipment manual (ITEM), intelligent graphics exchange (IGEXCFIANGE),maintenance planning document (MPD), maintenance review board report(MRB), maintenance steering group (MSG-3), master minimum equipment list(MMEL), non-destructive testing manual (NDT), power plant build-upmanual (PPBM), power plant build-up manual illustrated parts list(PPBMIPL), production management database (PMDB), service bulletin (SB),service bulletin index (SBI), service description section (SDS),structural repair manual (SRM), system description sections (SDS), tooland equipment manual (TEM), weight and balance manual (WBM), wiringdiagram manual (WM) or the like.

Generally, documents and/or their pages according to example embodimentsmay have one or more logical relationships between one another. Asexplained in greater detail below, then, the document collection system102 of the panoptic visualization system 100 may be generally configuredto receive documents and collect pages according to these logicalrelationships, with the pages being collected as a document collectionfor panoptic visualization (a panoptic visualization documentcollection). The document layout system 104 may be generally configuredto generate a layout of panoptically-arranged, logically-related pagesof a panoptic visualization document collection, such as the collectionfrom the document collection system. The document navigation system 106may be generally configured to select and provide navigation option(s)for navigating a visual presentation of a layout ofpanoptically-arranged, logically-related pages of a panopticvisualization document collection, such as the layout generated by thedocument layout system. The visual presentation of a layout may at timesbe generally referred to as simply the layout.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure may therefore collectpages of document(s) according to logical relationships between thepages, which in one example in the context of a complex system such asan aircraft, may reflect structural relationships between its elements.The pages may be panoptically arranged in a manner that reflects thelogical relationships, and in various examples, structuralrelationships. The arrangement may enable a user to see the pages in asingle view, and in a manner that facilitates a better understanding ofrelationships that may be otherwise difficult to comprehend. In thecontext of a complex system for example, the arrangement may not onlylessen the time required to review documents containing large amounts ofinformation, but may also lessen the time required and ease thedifficulty studying the information to understand the ways in which thecomplex system and its elements relate to each other.

Reference will now be made to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, which illustrate moreparticular examples of a suitable document collection system, documentlayout system and document navigation system, respectively, according toexample embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a document collection system 200 according to oneexample embodiment. As shown, the document collection system may includea document parser 202 configured to receive and disassemble one or moreelectronic documents into a plurality of constituent pages (documentcomponents) each of which includes respective media content. Thedocuments in one example may be disassembled according to the type ofthe documents (e.g., computer-aided design documents, presentationdocuments, graphics documents, video documents, legal documents, books,articles, web pages, engineering diagrams, technical drawings, wiringdiagrams, etc.). The document parser may therefore also be configured toidentify the type of the documents, such as based on the format of thedocuments, business rules or by user input.

The document collection system 200 may also include a colligater 204coupled to the document parser 202 and configured to colligate thepages. In this regard, the colligation of the pages may include, foreach of one or more pages of the plurality, the colligater beingconfigured to identify one or more links between the page and one ormore other pages of the plurality. The link(s) of one example may beidentified according to the documents, type of documents, and/or mediacontent of the page and other page(s). In a more particular example, thelink(s) may be identified according to the structure of the document,which as indicated above, may be defined according to a particularschema. And in one example, the link(s) may be defined in a number ofdifferent manners, such as according to one or more business rules,logic, schema or the like. These link(s) may establish one or morelogical relationships between the page and other page(s).

In one example, a link may be identified between pages sharing a commondocument (constituents of the same document). In one example, a link maybe identified between pages adjacent one another in a predeterminedsequence, such as a time sequence, spatial sequence or an order sequencein a common document or collection of documents. In some instances, alink may be identified according to the subject(s) or object(s) of thepages. For example, a link may be identified between pages sharing acommon subject or common object. In one example, a link may beidentified between pages in which an object of one is a subject of theother (object-subject), or in which a subject of one is an object of theother (subject-object).

In one example, a link may be identified between pages related by aparent-child relationship, whether directly or indirectly by childrensharing a common parent. In one example, a link may be identifiedbetween pages in instances in which one of the pages includes areference or link to the other page in its media content. In thisregard, a court decision may include a citation to another courtdecision (e.g., in the body of the court decision, or in a footnote,endnote or the like), or a page may include a hyperlink to another page.And in yet another example, a link may be identified between pages byuser input specifying a link between pages.

In a more particular example, link(s) may be identified according to thedocument's structure. The document's structure may indicate a linkbetween pages sharing a common document (constituents of the samedocument). The document's structure may also indicate link(s) betweenpages having a parent-child relationship, whether directly or indirectlyby children sharing a common parent. The structure of a book/manual mayindicate a link between its pages, and may also indicate link(s) betweenpages of respective chapters. Even further, the structure of thebook/manual may indicate link(s) between pages of respective sections,subsections or the like. And the link(s) provided by the structure maybe identified in addition to or in lieu of other links that may beidentified, such as in any of the manners provided above.

In addition to identifying link(s) between pages, the colligator 204 mayalso be configured to extract, generate or otherwise provide, for eachof one or more pages, metadata associated with the page. For a page, itsassociated metadata may provide any of a number of different pieces ofinformation about the page. For example, the metadata may provideinformation identifying the link(s) between the page and other page(s)in metadata associated with the page. This information may include thenames or other identifiers of the other page(s) linked to the page, andmay also include an indication of the logical relationship(s)established by the link(s) therebetween (e.g., share common document,subject and/or object, adjacency, object-subject subject-object,parent-child, reference/link, user specified, etc.).

In addition to the link(s), the associated metadata for a page mayinclude one or more other pieces of information about the page. Forexample, the metadata may provide information about the document or typeof document for which the page is a constituent. Information regardingthe document may include the name or other identifier of the document,and/or an author, size, and/or time of creation or last revision of thedocument. The metadata may provide information regarding the structureof the document and/or schema according to which the document isstructured. Also for example, the metadata may provide information aboutone or more content restrictions applied or to be applied to the page,such as access restrictions, editing or modification restrictions,and/or encryption of the page.

The metadata may also provide information about the media content of thepage. This information may include, for example, identification of thepage's subject(s) and/or object(s), the portion of the page includingone or more of the object(s), and/or a level of detail of one or more ofthe object(s) in the page. In various instances, a link between pagessharing a common subject, object or having an object-subject orsubject-object relationship may be inferred from the metadataidentifying the respective documents' subject(s) and/or object(s). Inthese instances, specification of a page's subject(s) and/or object(s)may suffice as information identifying the appropriate link(s) betweenpages.

In one example, the colligation of pages may further include thecolligater 204 being configured to identify one or more layout modelsfor at least some of the pages. In this example, the associated metadataextracted, generated or otherwise provided by the colligater for a pagemay further include information specifying an arrangement of therespective page in each of one or more of the layout models. For arespective layout model, this may include, for example, specifying asize, location and/or depth (z-order) of the page (or more particularlyits visual representation). The layout model(s) may be identified andsize, location and/or depth may be specified in any of a number ofdifferent manners, such as according to one or more business rules,logic or the like. Examples of suitable layout models (sometimesreferred to as styles of presentation) include brickwall, partialbrickwall, hierarchy, shape, center out, top-down/triangulated,center-out triangulated, size dominance, overlap through detail,master-detail through depth, load shape, facet,mixed-media/static-and-dynamic or the like. Other examples may includecombinations of one or more of the foregoing layout models. Each of anumber of example layout models will be further described below.

In one example, the size of a page in a layout model may be specified asan absolute size or a relative size, either of which may be given in anumber of different manners. In various instances, the size of the pagemay relate to a size in pixels and therefore give a pixel count or pixelresolution of the page. In one example, the absolute size of a page maybe given in height and width dimensions (e.g., N×M pixels). In anotherexample, the size of the page may be specified as a relative size basedon the size of one or more other pages to which the page is logicallyrelated. For example, the relative size may be given in a number ofdifferent manners, such as in a percentage, fraction or multiple ofother page(s); or the relative size may be given simply by an indicationof smaller than, larger than or equal in size to other page(s). In pagesrelated by a parent-child relationship, for example, the size of thechild page may be specified as being half the size of its parent. In anyevent in which the size is relative, the size of the respective otherpage(s) may be given in their associated metadata, and may be given asan absolute size or relative size based on the size of even furtherother pages.

Similar to size, in one example, the location (sometimes referred to asposition) of a page in a layout model may be specified as an absolutelocation or relative location, but in either event, may be given in anumber of different manners. Likewise, the depth of a page in a layoutmodel may be specified as an absolute depth or relative depth, either ofwhich may be given in a number of different manners. For example, theabsolute location of the page may be given in x, y coordinates of acoordinate system that spans the layout model, and/or the absolute depthmay be given in a z coordinate of the coordinate system. In anotherexample, the relative location of the page may be given in x, ycoordinates relative to a point or other page(s) in the layout model. Inyet another example, the relative location may be given simply by anindication of above, below, left or right of a point or other page(s) inthe layout model. Similarly, in one example, the relative depth may begiven simply by an indication of a page being in-front or behind otherpage(s) in the layout model. In any event in which the location and/ordepth is relative, the location and/or depth of the respective otherpage(s) may be given in their associated metadata, and may be given asan absolute or relative location and/or depth.

The colligater 204 may be configured to communicate the pages andmetadata as a panoptic visualization document collection, andcommunicate the collection to any of a number of different destinations.In one example, the colligater may be configured to communicate thepages and metadata to respective storage 206, 208 for later retrieval.The storage may be resident with the document collection system 200, ormay be separate from and in communication with the document collectionsystem. The pages and metadata may be formatted and stored in any of anumber of different manners, and hence, their storage may be of any of anumber of different types. Examples of suitable types of storage includefile storage, database storage, cloud storage or the like.

In various examples, before pages are stored in respective storage 206,the pages may be compressed or otherwise processed for easier storageand retrieval. As shown, for example, the system may include a tiler 210coupled to the colligater, and to which the colligater is configured tocommunicate the pages. The tiler may be configured to generate, for eachof one or more pages, visual representations of the page at respectiveresolutions for zoom levels of the page. As described herein, the page(or rather its visual representation) at each zoom level may begenerally referred to as a “sub-image,” and may at times be considered aseparate version or copy of the page. As suggested above, however, asub-image of a page need not necessarily include a still image as thepage may include other types of media content.

In addition to or in lieu of generating sub-images of a page, the tiler210 may be configured to divide the sub-images across the zoom levelsinto progressively larger numbers of tiles each of which covers aspatial area of a sub-image at a respective zoom level. This mayfacilitate retrieval, panning and/or zooming of the page, as explainedfurther below. The tiler may then be further configured to communicatethe tiles of the sub-images of the pages, such as to the page storage.Before communicating the tiles, however, the tiler may be furtherconfigured to compress the tiles, if so desired.

In one more particular example, the tiler 210 may be configured togenerate multiple resolutions of a page at respective zoom levelsarranged hierarchically from a top zoom level through one or moreintermediate zoom levels to a base zoom level. Each zoom level includesa sub-image of the entire page but at a different resolution; and thesub-images of the page across zoom levels may have the same nativeaspect ratio (ratio of the width of the image to its height). In oneexample, the top zoom level (level 0) may include a sub-image of theentire page at its lowest resolution, the one or more intermediate zoomlevels may include a sub-image of the entire page at progressivelyhigher resolutions (level 1 immediately below level 0, level 2immediately below level 1, etc.), and the base zoom level (level L) mayinclude a sub-image of the entire page at its highest (or full)resolution.

Each sub-image of a page may be generated in any of a number ofdifferent manners. In one example, one of the sub-images may be receivedby the tiler 210, such as the full-resolution sub-image. The tiler maythen be configured to generate the other sub-images at lowerresolutions, such as by downsampling the full-resolution sub-image.

As indicated, the tiler 210 may be configured to divide sub-imagesacross zoom levels into progressively larger numbers of tiles each ofwhich covers a spatial area of a sub-image at a respective zoom level.The tiles may have a fixed size (resolution) within and across the zoomlevels, and accordingly, a sub-image composed of a larger number oftiles may generally have a higher resolution than a sub-image composedof a smaller number of tiles. Each zoom level may therefore beconsidered a higher zoom level relative to any zoom level above it (thesub-image at the zoom level being at a higher resolution than thesub-image at any zoom level above it). Similarly, each zoom level may beconsidered a lower zoom level relative to any zoom level below it (thesub-image at the zoom level being at a lower resolution than thesub-image at any zoom level below it).

In one example, the sub-image at each zoom level may be half theresolution of the zoom level immediately below it, and twice theresolution of the zoom level immediately above it (the resolutionsincrease or decrease by a factor of two). In this example, the number oftiles in a zoom level/may be given by t_(l)=t₀×4^(l), in which l=0, 1,2, L, and t₀ represents the number of tiles in the top zoom level (level0). In a more particular example including four zoom levels 0, 1, 2 and3 (L=3), and in which the top zoom-level sub-image is composed of 1 tile(t₀=1), the first intermediate zoom-level (level 1) sub-image may becomposed of 4 tiles, the second intermediate zoom-level (level 2)sub-image may be composed of 16 tiles, and the base zoom-level (level 3)sub-image may be composed of 64 tiles.

In one example, a page covered by a number of tiles in one zoom levelmay be covered by an increased or decreased number of tiles in higher orlower zoom levels, respectively, thereby leading to an increase ordecrease in resolution of the page. Similarly, an area of a page coveredby one tile in one zoom level may be covered by multiple (e.g., four)tiles in an adjacent higher zoom level, thereby leading to an increasein resolution of the respective area of the page. And an area of a pagecovered by multiple tiles in one zoom level may be covered by one tilein an adjacent lower zoom level, thereby leading to a decrease inresolution of the respective area of the page.

In one example, a page (or area thereof) at a particular resolution maybe displayed by the tile(s) covering the page at the zoom levelcommensurate with the particular resolution. A zoom-in of the page maybe effectuated by replacing the displayed tile(s) with the increasednumber of tiles covering the page at a higher zoom level. And a zoom-outof the page may be effectuated by replacing the displayed tiles with thedecreased number of tile(s) covering the page at a lower zoom level. Andbecause the page may be divided into tiles, in instances in which aportion but not all of a page is viewable in a graphical user interface(GUI) in which the page is displayed, only those tiles covering theviewable portion of the page may be retrieved and displayed.

Reference is now made to FIG. 3, which illustrates a document layoutsystem 300 according to one example embodiment. As indicated above, thedocument layout system 300 may be one example of the document layoutsystem 104 of the panoptic visualization system 100 of FIG. 1. Thedocument layout system may be generally configured to generate a layoutof panoptically-arranged, logically-related pages of a panopticvisualization document collection. This collection may be, for example,the collection from the document collection system 102, or moreparticularly in one example, the document collection system 200 of FIG.2.

As shown in FIG. 3, the document layout system 300 may include a searchengine 302, request interface or the like configured to receive arequest for media content and identify one or more pages including therequested media content. The identified page may be of a panopticvisualization document collection having a plurality of pages each ofwhich includes respective media content and has associated metadataproviding information about the respective page. The pages and metadatamay be stored in respective storage 304, 306, which in one example maycorrespond to respective storage 206, 208 shown in FIG. 2.

The search engine 302 may be configured to identify page(s) in a numberof different manners, such as based on the associated metadata of thepages of the collection. For example, the request may include a keywordmatching or otherwise having relevance to a subject or object of page(s)of the collection. In response to the request, then, the search enginemay be configured to search the metadata storage 306 for the associatedmetadata of one or more page(s) including media content matching orrelevant to the request.

The document layout system 300 may also include a layout engine 308,layout generator or the like coupled to the search engine 302 andconfigured to select a layout model (style of presentation) from aplurality of layout models for panoptically-arranged pages of theplurality, including the identified page. The layout models may bemaintained in a respective storage such as file storage, databasestorage, cloud storage or the like, and formatted and stored in any of anumber of different manners according to the respective storage.

The layout models may include any of a number of different types oflayouts for panoptically arranging pages. As indicated above andexplained further below, examples of suitable layout models includebrickwall, partial brickwall, hierarchy, shape, center out,top-down/triangulated, center-out triangulated, size dominance, overlapthrough detail, master-detail through depth, load shape, facet,mixed-media/static-and-dynamic or the like. Other examples may includecombinations of one or more of the foregoing layout models.

The layout engine 308 may be configured to select the layout model inany of a number of different manners. In one example, the layout enginemay be configured to select the layout model according to the associatedmetadata for the identified page. The search engine 302 may therefore beconfigured to communicate the associated metadata for the identifiedpage to the layout engine, which in turn, may be configured to select alayout model according to the respective associated metadata.

As explained above, the associated metadata for a page may provideinformation about the type of document of which the page is aconstituent, and/or information about media content of the page. In oneexample, then, the layout engine 308 may be configured to select thelayout model according to the type of the document of which theidentified page is a constituent (e.g., computer-aided design document,presentation document, graphics document, video document, legaldocument, book, article, web page, engineering diagram(s), technicaldrawing(s), wiring diagram(s), etc.). In another example, the layoutengine may be configured to select the layout model according to thestructure of the document of which the identified page is a constituent,and/or schema according to which the respective document is structured.In yet another example, the layout engine may be configured to selectthe layout model according to the media content of the identified page,such as one or more of its subject(s) and/or object(s).

As also explained above, the associated metadata for a page may includeinformation identifying link(s) between the page and other page(s) ofthe collection. The layout engine 308 may therefore also be configuredto retrieve the identified page and other page(s) identified accordingto the associated metadata for the identified page. These pages may beretrieved from respective storage 304.

The layout engine 308 may be configured to generate a layout of theretrieved pages, panoptically-arranged according to the selected layoutmodel, and the retrieved pages and their associated metadata. Inaddition to retrieving the pages, then, the layout engine of one examplemay also be configured to receive the associated metadata, such as fromrespective storage 306. The layout engine may then be configured tocommunicate the layout, such as to a GUI in which a layout may bedisplayed, or a printer for generating a printout of the layout.

As suggested, the layout may define a panoptic arrangement of theretrieved pages according to the selected layout model. In thearrangement of the layout, the pages may each have a particular size,location and/or depth (z-order). The size, location and/or depth of eachpage of the layout may be absolute or relative to other page(s) of thelayout, and may be specified or otherwise determinable in a number ofdifferent manners. In one example, the sizes, locations and/or depthsmay be specified or otherwise determinable from a definition of theselected layout model of the layout models. Additionally oralternatively, for example, the associated metadata for each page of thelayout may provide information specifying the size, location and/ordepth (z-order) of it in the layout, as explained above. In theseexamples, the layout engine 308 may be configured to generate the layoutaccording to the sizes, locations and/or depths specified by theselected layout model and/or associated metadata of the pages of thelayout.

The aspect ratios of the pages may be their native aspect ratios. Invarious instances, however, a layout model may specify or otherwisedefine, for each of one or more pages, an aspect ratio that is differentfrom the native aspect ratio of the respective page. In these instances,the layout engine 308 may be further configured to generate the layoutaccording to the different, non-native aspect ratio(s) for the page(s).

In one further example, one or more of the pages of the layout may be ina state including visual representations (e.g., sub-images) atrespective resolutions. For each of these pages, the layout engine 308may be configured to retrieve the page for the visual representation atthe resolution that matches or most closely matches the size specifiedby the selected layout model and/or associated metadata. This mayinclude, for example, retrieving the sub-image of the page at or closestto the respective resolution.

The layout generated by the layout engine 308 may be dynamicallygenerated according to a selected layout model such that a differentlayout of the pages may be realized by changing the selected layoutmodel. A different layout may also be realized in a number of othermanners, such as based on associated metadata of the pages of the layoutor one or more time-based factors. In one example, the layout engine maytherefore be further configured to receive a request for a differentpanoptic arrangement of the retrieved pages. In this example, the layoutengine may be configured to select a different layout model from theplurality of layout models in response to the request. The layout enginemay then be configured to generate a different layout of the retrievedpages. This may include the layout engine being configured topanoptically rearrange the retrieved pages according to the selecteddifferent layout model, and the retrieved pages and associated metadatafor the retrieved pages.

As indicated above, the layout models may include any of a number ofdifferent types of layouts for panoptically arranging pages. In thelayout models, logical relationship(s) established by link(s) betweenpages may be expressed by the arrangement of pages, in either or both oflocation or depth (z-order). In one example, logical relationships maybe expressed by the proximity of pages to one another in theirlocations, and/or in their relative depths. Additionally, one or more ofthe layout models may define or imply a navigation path betweendocuments related to one another, and/or a load shape for loading pagesof a layout generated according to the respective layout models.Reference will now be made to FIGS. 5-16, which schematically illustrateexamples of suitable layout models. As shown, these examples includebrickwall, partial brickwall, hierarchy, shape, center out,top-down/triangulated, center-out triangulated, size dominance, overlapthrough detail, master-detail through depth, load shape, facet,mixed-media/static-and-dynamic or the like.

FIG. 5 illustrates a brickwall layout model 500 according to one exampleembodiment in which pages 502 may be arranged in one or more rows andone or more columns. As shown, the brickwall layout model may becharacterized by a consistent end-to-end orientation with the pagesbeing consistent in size and/or aspect ratio along one or more rowsand/or columns. This type of layout model may be used for general searchresults. In one example, the layout model may provide a horizontalorientation related to chapter location, with a vertical orientationassociated with a progressive increase in page length.

Although not separately shown, a partial brickwall layout model may beconsidered a superset of the brickwall layout model 500. The partialbrickwall layout model may be characterized by clusters of pages thatmay similarly be consistent in size and/or aspect ratio at least withinrespective clusters. In this layout model, the clusters may be relatedby associated metadata of the respective pages, such as by their mediacontent, author, time of creation, last revision or the like.

FIG. 6 illustrates a hierarchy layout model 600 according to one exampleembodiment in which pages may be arranged in a hierarchy in locationand/or size. A hierarchical relationship between pages(hierarchically-related pages) may be indicated by their associatedmetadata in a number of different manners. For example, a hierarchicalrelationship may be indicated by a parent-child relationship betweenpages.

In another example, a hierarchical relationship may be indicated by anobject-subject or subject-object relationship in which an object of onepage higher in a hierarchy may be subject(s) of other page(s) lower inthe hierarchy, and in which at least some of the respective otherpage(s) may be at the same level in the hierarchy. In this example, thesubject of the one page may be a master view, and the subject(s) of theother page(s) may be detailed view(s) of object(s) of the master view.In yet another example, a hierarchical relationship may be indicated bya relationship in which one page higher in a hierarchy includesreference(s) or link(s) (e.g., citation, hyperlink, etc.) to otherdocument(s) lower in the hierarchy, in which at least some of therespective other document(s) may be at the same level in the hierarchy.

In one example of the hierarchy layout model 600, pages higher in ahierarchy may be located above those lower in the hierarchy (top-down),and/or may be larger in size than those lower in the hierarchy. Thepages in this layout model may not be consistent in size or aspectratio. Those pages higher in the hierarchy may dominate those lower inthe hierarchy, and in which pages lower in the hierarchy may beconstrained in the x-direction by the width of pages higher in thehierarchy.

More particularly, for example, the highest page 602 in the hierarchymay be located at the top, and may be sized according to the page's fullresolution with its native aspect ratio. The next-highest page(s) 604 inthe hierarchy may be located immediately below the highest page at asize smaller than the highest page, and with an aspect ratio thatconstrains the next-highest page(s) collectively to the width of thehighest page. This pattern may repeat for the third-highest page(s) 606in the hierarchy below respective ones of the next-highest pages, forthe fourth-highest page(s) 608 in the hierarchy, and so forth. Thislayout model may in one example provide a single page with related pagescited in the respective page below it.

FIG. 7 illustrates a shape layout model 700 according to one exampleembodiment in which the model mimics a physical structure to which thepages relate, such as an aircraft or the geography of the United States.In one example, pages 702 may be arranged within boundaries of a visualrepresentation 704 of the physical structure (two or three-dimensionalrepresentation), where the location(s) of page(s) may coincide withrelationship(s) their media content to the structure. For example, pagesrelated to the wing tip area of an aircraft (e.g., by subject or object)may be located in the respective area of the visual representation ofthe aircraft. In another example, pages related to court decisions fromdifferent states of the United States may be located in areas of thevisual representation of the United States coinciding with the states inwhich the decisions were rendered.

In the shape layout model 700, in various instances, one or more subsetsof the pages may be arranged in clusters 706 at respective areas of thevisual representation of the physical structure. In these instances, theclusters may each be arranged according to another of the layout models,both in terms of location and size of the pages of the cluster.

FIG. 8 illustrates a center-out layout model 800 according to oneexample embodiment. This layout model may be characterized by adominating, centrally-located primary page 802—such as a page identifiedby a search engine (e.g., search engine 302) searching for mediacontent. Pages 804 related to the primary page (e.g.,hierarchically-related) may be located around the primary page in a360-degree arrangement. The pages in this layout model may not beconsistent in size or aspect ratio. In one example, this layout modelmay indicate that the primary page has a relation to pre (upper), post(lower) and contemporaneous (beside) pages. An example of this type oflayout may be a collection of documents or web pages that have beencross-hyperlinked together with the pages being part of a document treethat leads to the center, primary page.

FIG. 9 illustrates a top-down/triangulated layout model 900 according toone example embodiment. This layout model may be similar to acombination of the brickwall layout model 500 and hierarchy layout model600, and may be characterized by a top-down arrangement ofhierarchically-related pages 902. Similar to the brickwall layout model,the pages in this layout model may be consistent in size and/or aspectratio at least within pages at the same level of the hierarchy, whichmay indicate the importance of the pages relative to one another.Similar to the hierarchy layout model, in one example, pages higher inthe hierarchy may be above (in the y-direction) pages lower in thehierarchy; but in contrast to the hierarchy layout model, the widths ofthe lower pages may not be constrained by the higher pages in thex-direction. In one example, the top-down/triangulated layout model mayprovide a single page as a node in a graph tree of related pages.

FIG. 10 illustrates a center-out triangulated layout model 1000according to one example embodiment. This layout model may becharacterized by a dominating, centrally-located primary page 1002,similar to the center-out layout model 800. In the center-outtriangulated layout model, pages 1004 related to the primary page (e.g.,hierarchically-related) may be located above and/or below the primarypage. Also similar to the center-out layout model, the pages of thecenter-out triangulated layout model may not be consistent in size oraspect ratio. The center-out triangulated layout model may indicate thatthe primary page has a relation to the pre (upper) and post (lower)pages. An example of this type of layout may be a collection ofdocuments or web pages that have been hyperlinked together with theupper pages being part of the document tree that leads to the center,primary page, and the lower pages leading from the primary page.

FIG. 11 illustrates a size-dominance layout model 1100 according to oneexample embodiment. This layout model may be similar to the center-outlayout model 800. In this regard, the size-dominance layout model may becharacterized by a dominating, centrally-located primary page 1102, andpages 1104 related to the primary page (e.g., hierarchically-related)located around the primary page in a 360-degree arrangement. This layoutmodel, however, may include more than one primary page that may be thesame size or different sizes, with two such pages 1102 a, 1102 b beingshown. The pages in this layout model may not be consistent in size oraspect ratio. The size of the pages in this layout model may conveyweight or relevance of the pages relative to one another. An example ofthis type of layout may be a collection of wiring diagrams that haveassociated reference(s) or link(s) on all four axes of at least theprimary diagrams. The referenced/linked wiring diagrams/schematics maythemselves include relationships to additional diagrams.

FIG. 12 illustrates an overlap-through-detail layout model 1200according to one example embodiment. This layout model may becharacterized by preservation of a hierarchical relationship betweenpages in the depth (z-order) in which they are arranged. In one example,a page 1202 higher in the hierarchy may overlay another page 1204 lowerin the hierarchy, which in turn may overlay another page 1206 even lowerin the hierarchy. In this layout, pages sharing one or more commonobjects or other media content may overlap 1208 so that the sharedobject(s)/other media content may at least partially spatially alignacross the pages.

Navigating a layout (or more particularly its visual presentation) mayinclude zooming into or out of the presentation. Zooming into the layoutaccording to the overlap-through-detail layout model 1200 may includeincreasing the size and, in various instances of one example, resolutionof its pages. In this layout model, however, zooming into the layout mayalso include obscuring an overlaying page so that one or more overlaidpages (or rather the overlaid portions thereof) underneath it may comeinto view. Conversely, zooming out of a layout may also include showingan obscured overlaying page so that the respective page comes into view,and one or more overlaid pages (or rather the overlaid portions thereof)go out of view. In one example, obscuring a page may include increasinga transparency of the page (or decreasing its opacity) during a zoom-in,and showing a page may include increasing an opacity of the page (ordecreasing its transparency) during a zoom-out.

In one example, as shown in FIG. 12, in an overlap-through-detail layoutmodel 1200 including pages 1202, 1204, 1206, page 1202 may be obscuredas a user zooms into the layout. At some point during the zoom-in, then,the respective page may no longer be viewable so that the layout appearsto only include pages 1204, 1206. The zoom-in may further continue,obscuring page 1204 until it is no longer viewable, at which point thelayout appears to only include page 1206. In these instances, obscuredpages may remain in the layout, or the layout engine 308 may beconfigured to remove them from the layout.

Continuing the example of FIG. 12 in which only page 1206 is viewableand pages 1202, 1204 are obscured, page 1204 may be shown overlayingpage 1206 as a user zooms out of the layout. At some point during thezoom-out, the respective page may be viewable so that the layout appearsto include both pages 1204, 1206. The zoom-out may further continue,showing page 1202 until it is also viewable, at which point the layoutappears to include pages 1202, 1204, 1206. In these instances, overlaidpages (or the overlaid portions thereof) may remain in the layout, orthe layout engine 308 may be configured to remove them from the layout.

FIG. 13 illustrates a master-detail through depth layout model 1300according to one example embodiment. This layout model is similar to theoverlap-through-detail layout model 1200 in that a hierarchicalrelationship between pages may be preserved in their depth (z-order). Inthis layout model, however, an overlaid page (e.g., lower in thehierarchy) may be sized and arranged to be coincident with the entiretyof an overlaying page (e.g., higher in the hierarchy).

Similar to the overlap-through-detail layout model 1200, navigation inthe master-detail through depth layout model 1300 may include zoominginto or out of the layout, which may further include obscuring orshowing an overlaying page relative to an overlaid page. In the exampleshown in FIG. 13, navigating a layout including pages 1302, 1304, 1306may include obscuring overlaying pages as a user zooms into the layout.Conversely, navigating the layout may include showing overlaying pagesas the user zooms out of the layout. In this regard, implementing a zoomin the master-detail through depth layout model of multiple pages may besimilar to implementing a zoom for a page including multiple sub-images.

FIG. 14 illustrates a load-shape layout model 1400 according to oneexample embodiment. This layout model may be similar to some of theother layout models (e.g., center-out, center-out triangulated)including a dominating, centrally-located primary page 1402, and pages1404 related to the primary page (e.g., hierarchically-related) locatedaround, above and/or below the primary page. The pages in this layoutmodel may not be consistent in size or aspect ratio. The load-shapelayout model may be characterized by the timing of loading the layout(or more particularly its visual presentation). In this layout model,the non-primary pages may be loaded first, followed by the primary page.

An example of the load-shape layout model 1400 may be pages of mediacontent related in time where pages of older media content may be loadedbefore the primary page of the most-current media content. The timing ofmedia content in this context may relate to a time-aspect of thesubject(s) or object(s) of the media content. For example, pages (e.g.,pages 1404) for the preceding history of a court decision may be loadedbefore the court decision (e.g., page 1402) itself. In another example,the timing of media content may relate to the time of creation of thecontent, such as in the case of loading a first draft and one or morechanges or revisions to a document (e.g., pages 1404) before the finalor current version of the document (e.g., page 1402).

FIG. 15 illustrates a facet layout model 1500 according to one exampleembodiment. The facet layout model may be characterized by thearrangement of pages 1502 in a three-dimensional (3D) environment, suchas in the context of facets of a 3D structure such as a truncatedicosahedron 1504. For example, each page may be created from a set of x,y, z coordinates with a known consistent unit vector for orientation.Each page may then be placed in the layout in relation to a viewer'sperspective. This layout model may be visually presented in threedimensions, or may be translated to a corresponding two-dimensional (2D)arrangement, such as a translated truncated icosahedron 1506.

FIG. 16 illustrates a mixed-media/static-and-dynamic layout model 1600according to one example embodiment. This layout model may be a subsetof one or more other layout models in which the pages of a layout mayinclude pages of mixed media types. For example, this layout model mayinclude one or more static (“S”) pages such as in the case of textualcontent or still images, and one or more dynamic (“D”) pages such as inthe case of video. FIG. 16 illustrates for example themixed-media/static-and-dynamic layout model arranging mixed-mediacontent in an arrangement similar to the size-dominance layout model1100. As shown, this arrangement may include dominating,centrally-located primary pages 1602 a, 1602 b, and pages 1604 relatedto the primary pages (e.g., hierarchically-related) located around theprimary pages.

Now turning back to FIG. 4, a document navigation system 400 is shownaccording to one example embodiment. As indicated above, the documentnavigation system 400 may be one example of the document navigationsystem 106 of the panoptic visualization system 100 of FIG. 1. Thedocument navigation system may be generally configured to select andprovide navigation option(s) for navigating a layout ofpanoptically-arranged, logically-related pages of a panopticvisualization document collection. In one example, this may include thecollection from the document collection system 102 (e.g., documentcollection system 200). Additionally or alternatively, for example, itmay include the layout generated by the document layout system 104(e.g., document layout system 300).

As shown in FIG. 4, the document navigation system 400 may include anavigation engine 402 configured to receive a layout of pages (documentcomponents) of a panoptic visualization document collection. Thecollection may have a plurality of pages each of which includesrespective media content and have associated metadata providinginformation about the respective page. The layout may include a panopticarrangement of visual representations of the pages of the layoutaccording to the associated metadata of the respective pages.

The navigation engine 402 may also be configured to select one or morenavigation options from a plurality of navigation options for navigatingthe layout, in which the navigation options may be selected according tothe associated metadata for the pages of the layout. The navigationoptions may be maintained in a respective storage such as file storage,database storage, cloud storage or the like, and formatted and stored inany of a number of different manners according to the respectivestorage. Similarly, the metadata for the pages of the layout may bestored in a respective storage 404, which in one example may correspondto either or both of storage 208, 306. The navigation engine may also beconfigured to communicate the selected navigation options, such as to aGUI in which the selected navigation options may be presented along withthe layout.

In one example, the navigation engine 402 may be configured to selectnavigation options according to the type(s) of document(s) of which thepages of the layout are constituents, which may be indicated in theassociated metadata for the pages. In one example, the navigation enginemay be configured to select navigation options according to the mediacontent of the pages of the layout, such as their subject(s) and/orobject(s), which may also be indicated in the associated metadata.Examples of suitable navigation options for a layout include commandtools (e.g., pan, rotate, zoom, obscure/show, home, etc.), annotationtools (e.g., timeline/milestone, callout, etc.), linking tools(hyperlink, hotlink, hotspot, etc.), navigation path tools (e.g.,tracking, recording, etc.), metadata tools (e.g., search, filter,insertion, etc.), page tools (e.g., search, filter, cue, activation,size, location, dominance, logical relationship(s), etc.), layout-modelchange, co-navigation, hyper-hypo navigation, printing or the like.

The associated metadata for the pages of the layout may directly orindirectly affect the selected navigation options. In one example, theassociated metadata may be retrieved to directly affect the navigationoptions selected by the navigation engine 402. Additionally oralternatively, for example, the associated metadata for the pages mayaffect their layout, such as by affecting a selected layout modelaccording to which the layout may be generated. More particularly, forexample, the layout of pages may be generated according to a layoutmodel selected according to the type of document(s) of the pages, and/ormedia content of the pages. The layout may then affect the navigationoptions selected by the navigation engine. In either event of theassociated metadata directly or indirectly affecting the selectednavigation options, the navigation engine may be said to selectnavigation options according to the associated metadata for pages of thelayout.

The document navigation system 400 may also include a request interface404 coupled to the navigation engine 402 and configured to receive arequest according to one or more of the selected navigation options. Therequest interface may be configured to communicate the request to thenavigation engine. The navigation engine may in turn be furtherconfigured to effect an adjustment of the visual representation of thelayout in response to the request and according to the request, andcommunicate the adjustment such as to the aforementioned GUI. In oneexample, the navigation engine may be configured to effect theadjustment of the visual representation without adjustment of the layoutitself. In another example, the navigation engine may be configured toeffect the adjustment of the visual representation including adjustmentof the layout.

As suggested above, the selected navigation options may be affected by alayout and/or its pages, or in one more particular example, theassociated metadata for the pages of a layout. In various instances,then, layouts of different pages may result in the selection of one ormore different navigation options. For example, consider that thenavigation engine 402 may at different times receive a layout of firstpages and a separate layout of second pages, with each layout includinga panoptic arrangement of respective pages. In this example, thenavigation engine may select first navigation options for the firstlayout, and second navigation options for the second layout. The firstand second pages may include one or more common pages, but in oneexample, may also include one or more different pages. In this example,the first and second layouts may be different at least in that the firstand second pages include one or more different pages. And in turn, thefirst and second navigation options selected by the navigation enginemay include one or more different navigation options—although similar tothe first and second pages, the first and second navigation options mayinclude one or more common navigation options.

The navigation engine 402 may be configured to select any of a number ofdifferent navigation options for a layout of pages. Many layoutsgenerated according to many different layout models, and including pagesof many different types of documents, may include command tools such aspan, rotate, zoom, obscure/show, home or the like. In various instances,a portion but not all of a layout may be viewable in a GUI in which thelayout is displayed. This may be the case, for example, in instances inwhich the size of the layout is greater than the viewable area of theGUI (sometimes referred to as a “view”), or in instances in which thelayout is of pages in a 3D environment (e.g., facet layout model). Inthese instances, the navigation options may include panning and/orrotating to move the layout. This may include one or more pages of thelayout coming into view, and may additionally or alternatively includeone or more pages going out of view. Pages of the layout in view orcoming into view may be retrieved and displayed, while pages out of viewor going out of view may be removed from display. Further, in instancesin which only a portion of a page is in view or comes into view, and inwhich pages are divided into tiles, only those tiles covering theviewable portion of the page may be retrieved and displayed.

The command tools may also include zooming into or out of a layout andthus its pages, which may include increasing or decreasing the size ofthe layout. This increasing or decreasing the size of the layout may inturn include increasing or decreasing the size(s) and, in variousinstances of one example, the resolution(s) of its pages.

In one example, pages of a layout may include sub-images at respectiveresolutions for zoom levels of the pages. In this example, the layoutmay include for each respective page, the sub-image of the page at theresolution that matches or most closely matches the page's sizespecified by a selected layout model and/or associated metadata. Azoom-in of the layout, then, may be effectuated by replacing thesub-images of its pages with respective sub-images at increased zoomlevels, and hence increased resolutions. Conversely, a zoom-out of thelayout may be effectuated by replacing the sub-images of its pages withrespective sub-images at decreased zoom levels, and hence decreasedresolutions.

In various examples, the zoom (in or out) of a page or layout may becapable at a finer increment than provided by zoom levels of the page orone or more pages of the layout. The zoom of a page (alone or as part ofa layout) may be to an increment that relative to a sub-image of thepage being displayed, another sub-image of the page matches or mostclosely matches the page's increased/decreased size. In these instances,for example, the zoom may be effectuated by replacing a sub-image of thepage with a corresponding sub-image of the page at a higher/lowerresolution. In other instances, however, the zoom may be to an incrementthat relative to a sub-image of the page being displayed, the samesub-image still most closely matches the page's increased/decreasedsize. In these instances, for example, the zoom may be effectuated byincreasing the size of the sub-image of the page without replacing thesub-image with another at a higher/lower resolution.

In a further example, a page may not only include respective sub-images,but the sub-images across zoom levels may be divided into progressivelylarger numbers of tiles each of which covers a spatial area of thesub-image at a respective zoom level. In this example, a zoom-in of thelayout may be effectuated by replacing the displayed tile(s) of itspages with the increased numbers of tiles covering the pages at higherzoom level(s). Conversely, a zoom-out of the layout may be effectuatedby replacing the displayed tiles with the decreased numbers of tile(s)covering the pages at lower zoom level(s). Similar to panning a layout,zooming into or out of a layout may include one or more pages of thelayout coming into view, and may additionally or alternatively includeone or more pages going out of view. These pages may be handled in amanner similar to panning the layout, but at higher or lower zoomlevel(s).

In addition to increase or decrease in size/resolution of pages of alayout, for one or more layouts, the zoom option may implicate one ormore other navigation options to further affect one or more of thepages. For example, the overlap-through-detail layout model 1200 andmaster-detail through depth layout model 1300 may implicate obscure/showoptions in which overlaying pages may be obscured or shown relative tooverlaid pages during zoom-in and zoom-out, such as in the mannerexplained above with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13. It should beunderstood, however, that the obscure/show options may be utilized toobscure or show one or more pages of a layout independent of the zoomoption, and independent of pages overlaying one another.

A number of navigation options including those command tools describedabove may effect an adjustment of the visual presentation of a layout. Ahome option may therefore permit a user to return to the visualpresentation from the adjusted visual presentation.

The navigation options may include annotation tools such astimeline/milestone, callout or the like. These tools may permit a userto add annotations to a layout, and may be selected for a number ofdifferent layouts to different layout models, and including pages ofmany different types of documents. The timeline/milestone option invarious examples may be more particularly applicable to pages logicallyrelated to one another in a time sequence. In one example,timeline/milestone may effect a visualization added to the layout thatmay relate pages of the layout as milestones in a timeline.

The navigation options may include linking tools such as hyperlink,hotlink, hotspot or the like. In accordance with the hyperlink option,one or more pages (each a source) may include reference(s) or link(s) toother page(s) or media content of other page(s) (the page(s) or mediacontent being a target). The target page(s) or media content may be inthe same layout, or in the same panoptic visualization documentcollection but perhaps not in the same layout. The target may eveninclude page(s) or media content not in the same panoptic visualizationdocument collection.

The hyperlink option may permit a source page to include inline in itsmedia content, content linked from one or more other pages. This issometimes more particularly referred to as a hot link. The hyperlinkoption may also permit a user to navigate from a source page to one ormore target pages linked to the respective source page. In this regard,a hyperlink may be represented in any of a number of different manners,such as by text, graphic or the like. For example, media content of onepage may be formatted as a hyperlink to another page or media content ofanother page. More particularly, for example, an object depicted in onepage may be formatted as a hyperlink to another page that also depictsthe object, or more directly to the object depicted in the other page.This type of hyperlink is sometimes referred to as a hotspot.

In addition to or in lieu of the foregoing, for example, the navigationoptions may include navigation path tools such as tracking, recording orthe like. A navigation path according to example embodiments may bedefined in any of a number of different manners. In one example, anavigation path may be defined by a sequence of a user panning,rotating, zooming and/or repositioning a layout or one or more of itspages, navigating from one page to another page or media content(hyperlink), or otherwise effecting an adjustment of the layout (orrather its visual presentation). The navigation path tools may permittracking and/or recording a navigation path followed by a user, therebycreating a navigation history.

The navigation options of one example may include metadata tools such assearch, filter, insertion or the like, which may operate with respect tothe associated metadata for pages of the layout. The search and filteroptions may permit a user to search the associated layout for particularmetadata, or filter the associated metadata to include or excludeparticular metadata. The insertion option may permit the insertion ofparticular metadata to the visual presentation of the layout, such as inthe form of a callout including the particular metadata referenced topage(s) for which the associated metadata includes the particularmetadata.

The navigation options may include page tools such as search, filter,cue, activation, size, location, dominance, logical relationship(s) orthe like. Similar to the metadata tools, the search and filter optionsmay permit a user to search the pages of the layout for particularpage(s) or particular media content. In this regard, the search andfilter options may implicate the associated metadata for pages of thelayout.

The cue option may permit the application of one or more visual effectsto one or more pages to draw the user's attention to those page(s) inthe layout. The visual effect may be any of a number of differenteffects. Examples of suitable visual effects include an opaque ortranslucent border of a noticeable color (e.g., yellow) around thepage(s), an opaque or translucent visual object or shape smaller thanand overlaying the page(s) or a translucent visual object or shape thesame or greater in size than and overlaying the page(s), or the like.Examples of other suitable visual effects include an increase in a sizeof the page(s), an animation applied to the page(s), or the like.

The visual effect(s) may be triggered in any of a number of differentmanners, as may the page(s) to which the effect(s) are applied. Forexample, visual effect(s) may be triggered to indicate selection of oneor more page(s). In this example, the visual effect(s) may be applied tothe selected page(s). Additionally or alternatively in this example,visual effect(s) may be applied to page(s) having a particular logicalrelationship with the selected page(s) (e.g., share common document,subject and/or object, adjacency, object-subject subject-object,parent-child, reference/link, user specified, etc.). In another example,visual effect(s) may be applied to page(s) to indicate a navigation pathfollowed by the user.

The activation option may be more particularly applicable to dynamicpages and may permit a user to trigger activity of one or more pages,such as by playing or otherwise controlling (e.g., rewind, fast forward,volume, mute, etc.) video content that may be included in such page(s).

Size, location and dominance options may permit a user to resize orotherwise rearrange one or more page(s) of a layout, which may in effectcreate a different layout. These options may be applicable to a numberof different layouts to different layout models, and including pages ofmany different types of documents. In one example, however, thedominance option may be more particularly applicable to layoutsaccording to a layout model including a dominating page, such ashierarchy, center out, center-out triangulated, size dominance, loadshape, mixed-media/static-and-dynamic or the like.

The logical relationship(s) option may permit a user to add, delete orotherwise change one or more logical relationships between pages, whichmay in turn effect a change in the layout of pages. These changes may ormay not carry from navigation of a layout of pages to the associatedmetadata of those pages and any other similarly related pages. Thus, inone example, the changes may be temporary in that they are only appliedto the layout of pages currently being visually presented. In anotherexample, the changes may be more permanent in that they result incorresponding changes to the associated metadata for pages, which maynot only result in a change in the currently presented layout but otherlayouts generated including the affected pages.

Further examples of navigation options may include layout-model change,co-navigation, hyper-hypo navigation, printing or the like. Thelayout-model change option may permit the user to change the layoutmodel according to which the visually presented layout has beengenerated. This option may result in a rearrangement of the pages of thelayout according to another layout model, thereby generating anotherlayout. The co-navigation option may permit users of different instancesof the same system to collaboratively navigate a layout of pages thatmay have been generated by one of the systems, but may be concurrentlyvisually presented by both systems. The hyper-hypo navigation option maypermit navigation between unique layout states or other pages that maynot be part of the same panoptic visualization document collection aspages of the layout (hyper navigation), and/or navigation with a singlelayout state that may change as a result of that navigation (hyponavigation). And the printing option may permit the user to direct thevisually-presented layout to a printer for generating a printout of it.

To further illustrate example embodiments of the present disclosure,reference will now be made to FIG. 17, which depicts an operationaldiagram 1700 of operations that may be performed by the panopticvisualization system 100 according to one example embodiment. Accordingto the illustrated example, the panoptic visualization system may beimplemented as an application configured to receive one or moredocuments and generate a website including a layout of its pages andappropriate supporting elements such as for navigation of the layout.

As shown at blocks 1702 and 1704, the operations may include a useropening or otherwise causing execution of the application, and draggingand dropping a document (e.g., PDF document) into the application. Thepanoptic visualization system 100 or more particularly its documentcollection system 102 may thereby receive the document, after which thedocument collection system may disassemble the document into itsconstituent pages, as shown in block 1706.

The document collection system 102 may identify links between pages ofthe document and a layout model for arranging the pages, such asaccording to the structure of the document, as shown in block 1708. Thedocument collection system may also extract, generate or otherwiseprovide metadata associated with the pages, as shown in block 1710. Andthe document collection system may process, or communicate with thedocument navigation system 106 to process, the metadata associated withthe pages to generate metadata for one or more supporting websiteelements, as shown in block 1712. These supporting website elements mayinclude, for example, one or more navigation options or the like. Thedocument collection system may then collect the metadata associated withthe pages, and metadata for the supporting website elements, as websitemetadata.

As shown in block 1714, the document collection system 102 may furthersave each page of the disassembled document with a unique name, and inone example, as an image (e.g., JPEG, PNG). The document collectionsystem may also tile and/or compress the pages for easier storage andretrieval, as shown in block 1716.

The document collection system may communicate the tiled (and possiblycompressed) pages and website metadata to the document layout system104, which may select the appropriate layout model and generate a layoutof the pages for a website, as shown in block 1718. The documentcollection system may also communicate the website metadata to thedocument navigation system 106, and in one example, the document layoutsystem may communicate the layout to the document navigation system. Inresponse, the document navigation system may select one or morenavigation options for navigating the layout, as shown in block 1720.The panoptic visualization system 100 may then be configured to generatea website including the layout and navigation option(s), as shown inblock 1722.

To even further illustrate example embodiments of the presentdisclosure, reference will now be made to FIGS. 18-23, which depictexample layouts of pages that may be displayed in a GUI that has apredetermined viewable area, and which may be navigated by a user,according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure. FIGS.18-20 illustrate an example of a layout according to the hierarchylayout model 600 displayed in a GUI that has a predetermined viewablearea 1800. As shown, a layout according to the hierarchy layout modelmay include a plurality of pages 1802, each of which in one example maybe a sub-image of the page at a respective resolution. Various ones ofthe pages may have different resolutions in the layout, with page 1804having a higher resolution than pages 1806, which in turn have a higherresolution than pages 1808, which again in turn have a higher resolutionthan pages 1810.

The pages may be located and/or sized in the layout according to logicalrelationship(s) between the pages. In the example shown, the pages 1802are engineering drawings of an aircraft, and may have object-subjectrelationships. More particularly, for example, object(s) of a page on alevel of the hierarchy may be subject(s) of pages below it in thehierarchy, the subject(s) in one example being additional detailregarding the object(s).

More particularly, for example, page 1804 may depict an exterior view ofthe entire aircraft. Pages 1806 may depict a nose section, a landinggear assembly, a window, an engine assembly and a tail assembly. Pages1808 may depict additional detail about the content of respective onesof pages 1806, and pages 1810 may depict additional detail about thecontent of respective ones of pages 1808. In the viewable area 1800,however, pages 1808, 1810 may be presented at a resolution that causestheir media content to be only partially understood or not understood atall by a user. Of course, in other example embodiments, pages 1808and/or pages 1810 may be presented at a sufficient resolution tointerpret substantially all of their media content.

The GUI may present one or more selected navigation options fornavigating the layout of pages 1802. In this illustrative example, panand zoom navigation options may be presented in the form of controls1812 to move and/or increase the size of the pages in the viewable area1800 to focus on a portion 1814 of the layout. In other words, the usermay activate the aforementioned controls to move and/or zoom the layoutto fill a greater portion of the viewable area of the GUI with a portionof the layout. FIG. 19 illustrates one example of the result ofnavigating the layout in this manner.

As shown in FIG. 19, as the user activates controls 1812 to focus on theportion 1814 of the layout, the size of pages 1804-1810 may increasewhich, in one example, may include replacing sub-images of pages1804-1808 with corresponding sub-images at higher resolutions. Theresolution of the sub-images may allow the user to interpretsubstantially all of the presented media content. In this view, however,pages 1810 may not be presented with sufficient resolution to beinterpreted by the user, because the size of the respective pages maynot have been increased to a level implicating a next sub-image. Thatis, even after having increased the size of the image, the size maystill most closely approximate the same sub-image so as to not cause itsreplacement with the next sub-image at a higher resolution. In thisillustrative example, the user may again activate controls 1812 to moveand/or resize the view to focus on an even smaller portion 1902 of thelayout.

One example of the result of navigating the layout to focus on portion1902 is shown in FIG. 20. In one example, the viewable area 2000 of theGUI may resize to more fully accommodate the focused portion of thelayout. As the user activates the controls 1812 to focus on the portion1902 of the layout, the size of pages 1804-1810 may increase, which inone example, may now further include replacing a sub-image of page 1810with a corresponding sub-image at a higher resolution. The media contentof page 1810 may now be sufficient to be interpreted by the user. In oneexample in which only a portion of page 1804 is within the viewable areaof the GUI, and in which the respective page is divided into tiles, onlythose tiles covering the viewable portion of the respective page may beretrieved and displayed.

FIG. 21 illustrates an example of a layout according to the brickwalllayout model 500 displayed in a GUI that has a predetermined viewablearea 2100. The layout may include pages 2102-2110. In the example shown,the pages of the layout are wiring diagrams of a wiring system, whichmay be related by a spatial sequence. In this regard, page 2102 maydepict wire(s) that connect to wire(s) depicted in page 2104. Page 2104may in turn depict wire(s) that connect to wire(s) depicted in page2106, and so forth for wire(s) of page 2106 to those of page 2108, andwire(s) of page 2108 to those of page 2110.

Pages of the layout entirely within the viewable area 2100 of the GUImay form or otherwise define an area or region of interest 2112. In oneexample, pages within the region of interest may be presented with anincreased resolution relative to any pages outside the region ofinterest. As shown, the region of interest may include pages 2102-2108,but because only a portion of page 2110 is within the viewable area ofthe GUI, page 2110 may be considered outside the region of interest(although it may still be considered within the viewable area). In thisinstance, page 2110 may be presented at a lower resolution than theresolution(s) of pages 2102-2108.

More particularly in the context of a structural repair manual (SRM),FIG. 22 illustrates another example of a portion of a layout accordingto a combination of the brickwall and hierarchy layout models 500, 600displayed in a GUI that has a predetermined viewable area 2200. Asshown, a layout according to the hierarchy layout model may include aplurality of pages 2202, each of which in one example may be a sub-imageof the page at a respective resolution. Similar to before, various onesof the pages may have different resolutions in the layout, with page2204 having a higher resolution than pages 2206, which in turn have ahigher resolution than pages 2208. Also similar to before, the GUI maypresent one or more selected navigation options for navigating thelayout of pages, such as controls 2210 to move and/or increase the sizeof the pages in the viewable area to focus on a portion of the layout.

Again, the pages 2202 may be located and/or sized in the layoutaccording to logical relationship(s) between the pages. In theillustrated example, the pages are from an SRM and may be logicallyrelated according to the structure of the document. Pages 2204 mayreflect title and chapter pages of the document, and may be arranged ina brickwall layout model 500. Underneath pages 2204, pages 2206 and 2208may reflect pages of respective chapters, or sections or subsections ofrespective chapters, and may be arranged in a hierarchical layout model600. In one example, pages 2206 may reflect pages of sections ofrespective chapters, and pages 2208 may reflect pages of respectivesections.

FIG. 23 illustrates an example of a layout according to theoverlap-through-detail layout model 1200 displayed in a GUI that has apredetermined viewable area 2300. As shown, the layout includes pages2302, 2304, and in which page 2302 may include a reference to page 2304.As shown, this hierarchical relationship may be maintained by the layoutin which page 2304 (higher in the hierarchy) may partially overlay page2302, and in one example, page 2304 may overlay page 2302 at thelocation of its reference in the respective page. As also shown, page2304 may be presented smaller in size than page 2302, and may thereforebe presented with a lower resolution than page 2302.

According to example embodiments of the present disclosure, the panopticvisualization system 100 and its subsystems including the documentcollection system 102, document layout system 104 and documentnavigation system 106 may be implemented by various means. Similarly,the examples of a document collection system 200, document layout system300 and document navigation system 400, including each of theirrespective elements, may be implemented by various means according toexample embodiments. Means for implementing the systems, subsystems andtheir respective elements may include hardware, alone or under directionof one or more computer program code instructions, program instructionsor executable computer-readable program code instructions from acomputer-readable storage medium.

In one example, one or more apparatuses may be provided that areconfigured to function as or otherwise implement the systems, subsystemsand respective elements shown and described herein. In examplesinvolving more than one apparatus, the respective apparatuses may beconnected to or otherwise in communication with one another in a numberof different manners, such as directly or indirectly via a wireline orwireless network or the like.

Generally, an apparatus of exemplary embodiments of the presentdisclosure may comprise, include or be embodied in one or more fixed orportable electronic devices. Examples of suitable electronic devicesinclude a smartphone, tablet computer, laptop computer, desktopcomputer, workstation computer, server computer or the like. Theapparatus may include one or more of each of a number of components suchas, for example, a processor (e.g., processor unit) connected to amemory (e.g., storage device).

The processor is generally any piece of hardware that is capable ofprocessing information such as, for example, data, computer-readableprogram code, instructions or the like (generally “computer programs,”e.g., software, firmware, etc.), and/or other suitable electronicinformation. More particularly, for example, the processor may beconfigured to execute computer programs, which may be stored onboard theprocessor or otherwise stored in the memory (of the same or anotherapparatus). The processor may be a number of processors, amulti-processor core or some other type of processor, depending on theparticular implementation. Further, the processor may be implementedusing a number of heterogeneous processor systems in which a mainprocessor is present with one or more secondary processors on a singlechip. As another illustrative example, the processor may be a symmetricmulti-processor system containing multiple processors of the same type.In yet another example, the processor may be embodied as or otherwiseinclude one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs),field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or the like. Thus, although theprocessor may be capable of executing a computer program to perform oneor more functions, the processor of various examples may be capable ofperforming one or more functions without the aid of a computer program.

The memory is generally any piece of hardware that is capable of storinginformation such as, for example, data, computer programs and/or othersuitable information either on a temporary basis and/or a permanentbasis. The memory may include volatile and/or non-volatile memory, andmay be fixed or removable. Examples of suitable memory include randomaccess memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard drive, a flashmemory, a thumb drive, a removable computer diskette, an optical disk, amagnetic tape or some combination of the above. Optical disks mayinclude compact disk—read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk—read/write(CD-R/W), DVD or the like. In various instances, the memory may bereferred to as a computer-readable storage medium which, as anon-transitory device capable of storing information, may bedistinguishable from computer-readable transmission media such aselectronic transitory signals capable of carrying information from onelocation to another. Computer-readable medium as described herein maygenerally refer to a computer-readable storage medium orcomputer-readable transmission medium.

In addition to the memory, the processor may also be connected to one ormore interfaces for displaying, transmitting and/or receivinginformation. The interfaces may include a communications interface(e.g., communications unit) and/or one or more user interfaces. Thecommunications interface may be configured to transmit and/or receiveinformation, such as to and/or from other apparatus(es), network(s) orthe like. The communications interface may be configured to transmitand/or receive information by physical (wireline) and/or wirelesscommunications links. Examples of suitable communication interfacesinclude a network interface controller (NIC), wireless NIC (WNIC) or thelike.

The user interfaces may include a display and/or one or more user inputinterfaces (e.g., input/output unit). The display may be configured topresent or otherwise display information to a user, suitable examples ofwhich include a liquid crystal display (LCD), light-emitting diodedisplay (LED), plasma display panel (PDP) or the like. The user inputinterfaces may be wireline or wireless, and may be configured to receiveinformation from a user into the apparatus, such as for processing,storage and/or display. Suitable examples of user input interfacesinclude a microphone, image or video capture device, keyboard or keypad,joystick, touch-sensitive surface (separate from or integrated into atouchscreen), biometric sensor or the like. The user interfaces mayfurther include one or more interfaces for communicating withperipherals such as printers, scanners or the like.

As indicated above, program code instructions may be stored in memory,and executed by a processor, to implement functions of the systems,subsystems and their respective elements described herein. As will beappreciated, any suitable program code instructions may be loaded onto acomputer or other programmable apparatus from a computer-readablestorage medium to produce a particular machine, such that the particularmachine becomes a means for implementing the functions specified herein.These program code instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable storage medium that can direct a computer, a processoror other programmable apparatus to function in a particular manner tothereby generate a particular machine or particular article ofmanufacture. The instructions stored in the computer-readable storagemedium may produce an article of manufacture, where the article ofmanufacture becomes a means for implementing functions described herein.The program code instructions may be retrieved from a computer-readablestorage medium and loaded into a computer, processor or otherprogrammable apparatus to configure the computer, processor or otherprogrammable apparatus to execute operations to be performed on or bythe computer, processor or other programmable apparatus.

Retrieval, loading and execution of the program code instructions may beperformed sequentially such that one instruction is retrieved, loadedand executed at a time. In some example embodiments, retrieval, loadingand/or execution may be performed in parallel such that multipleinstructions are retrieved, loaded, and/or executed together. Executionof the program code instructions may produce a computer-implementedprocess such that the instructions executed by the computer, processoror other programmable apparatus provide operations for implementingfunctions described herein.

Execution of instructions by a processor, or storage of instructions ina computer-readable storage medium, supports combinations of operationsfor performing the specified functions. It will also be understood thatone or more functions, and combinations of functions, may be implementedby special purpose hardware-based computer systems and/or processorswhich perform the specified functions, or combinations of specialpurpose hardware and program code instructions.

As explained above, example embodiments of the present disclosure permitthe collection, layout and/or navigation of a large number of pages (ordocuments). Example embodiments may allow a user to simultaneously andquickly view and visually search a large number of pages while usingless bandwidth than retrieving all of the pages. In instances in which auser may generally have an idea of the appearance of page(s) ofinterest, or have an idea of a logical relationship between therespective page(s) and other pages, a layout of pages may be generatedand/or navigated to allow the user to locate and use page(s) ofinterest. The user may view and navigate pages as though they were laidout in the physical world without the physical space requirementinvolved with large collections of pages.

Many modifications and other embodiments of the disclosure set forthherein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which thisdisclosure pertains having the benefit of the teachings presented in theforegoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is tobe understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the specificembodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments areintended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.Moreover, although the foregoing descriptions and the associateddrawings describe example embodiments in the context of certain examplecombinations of elements and/or functions, it should be appreciated thatdifferent combinations of elements and/or functions may be provided byalternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appendedclaims. In this regard, for example, different combinations of elementsand/or functions than those explicitly described above are alsocontemplated as may be set forth in some of the appended claims Althoughspecific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic anddescriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for implementation of a system forpanoptic visualization of a document, the apparatus comprising aprocessor and a memory storing executable instructions that in responseto execution by the processor cause the apparatus to implement at least:a document parser configured to receive and disassemble an electronicdocument into a plurality of constituent pages that are groupings ofmedia content of the electronic document between basic breaking points,each page including respective media content, the document having ahierarchical structure defined according to a particular schema; acolligater coupled to the document parser and configured to colligatethe pages, including being configured to provide associated metadata foreach page of the plurality, the associated metadata for each page beingaccording to some metadata schema and providing structured informationidentifying a link between the page and one or more other pages of theplurality, the link establishing a hierarchical relationship between therespective pages according to the hierarchical structure of thedocument; and a layout engine configured to generate a layout of pagesof the document, the layout including a panoptic arrangement of imagesof the pages of the layout according to the associated metadata of therespective pages, the associated metadata for at least one page of thelayout including information identifying one or more links between therespective page and one or more other pages of the layout, the panopticarrangement being two-dimensional and the hierarchical relationshipbetween the respective pages being expressed in the panoptic arrangementby a difference in size of at least some of the images relative toothers of the images, the image of each page of the layout including animage of the respective media content of the page, and wherein thelayout engine is configured to communicate the layout.
 2. The apparatusof claim 1, wherein the hierarchical structure of the document isreflected in the media content of the one or more pages of the document,or encoded in the document.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein thememory stores further executable instructions that in response toexecution by the processor cause the apparatus to implement: a searchengine coupled to the layout engine and configured to receive a requestfor media content and identify a page including the requested mediacontent, the identified page being of the document, wherein the layoutengine is configured to retrieve pages of the document including theidentified page and one or more other pages identified according to theassociated metadata for the identified page, the respective associatedmetadata including information identifying one or more links between theidentified page and respective one or more other pages, and wherein thelayout engine being configured to generate the layout of pages includesbeing configured to generate a layout of the retrieved pages.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory stores further executableinstructions that in response to execution by the processor cause theapparatus to implement: a navigation engine coupled to the layout engineand configured to select one or more navigation options from a pluralityof navigation options for navigating a visual presentation of thelayout, the navigation options being selected according to theassociated metadata for the pages of the layout, wherein the navigationengine is configured to communicate the selected navigation options. 5.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the associated metadata for each pagealso includes information specifying one or more of a size, location ordepth of the image of the respective page in the layout, and wherein foreach of the pages of the layout, the layout engine is configured togenerate the layout according to the one or more of the size, locationor depth specified by the information provided in the associatedmetadata.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein for each of one or moreof the pages of the layout, the page is in a state including images atrespective resolutions of the page, and the associated metadata providesinformation specifying at least the size of the image of the respectivepage in the layout, and wherein for each of one or more of the pages ofthe layout, the layout engine being configured to generate the layoutincludes being configured to retrieve the page for the image at aresolution that matches the size specified by the information providedin the associated metadata.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein foreach of one or more of the pages of the layout, the associated metadataprovides information specifying at least the size of the image of therespective page in the layout, the size being specified relative to oneor more others of the retrieved pages.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the images of the pages of the layout include images of pages ata higher level and images of pages at a lower level in the hierarchicalstructure, and wherein the layout engine is configured to generate thelayout in which the images of pages at the higher level are at the samedepth as and above the images of pages at the lower level, and larger insize relative to the images of pages at the lower level.
 9. Theapparatus of claim 8, wherein the layout engine is configured togenerate the layout in which the images of pages at the lower level havean aspect ratio that constrains the images collectively to a width ofthe images of pages at the higher level.
 10. A method comprising:receiving and disassembling an electronic document into a plurality ofconstituent pages that are groupings of media content of the electronicdocument between basic breaking points, each page including respectivemedia content, the document having a hierarchical structure definedaccording to a particular schema; colligating the pages, includingproviding associated metadata for each page of the plurality, theassociated metadata for each page being according to some metadataschema and providing structured information identifying a link betweenthe page and one or more other pages of the plurality, the linkestablishing a hierarchical relationship between the respective pagesaccording to the hierarchical structure of the document; generating alayout of pages of the document, the layout including a panopticarrangement of images of the pages of the layout according to theassociated metadata of the respective pages, the associated metadata forat least one page of the layout including information identifying one ormore links between the respective page and one or more other pages ofthe layout, the panoptic arrangement being two-dimensional and thehierarchical relationship between the respective pages being expressedin the panoptic arrangement by a difference in size of at least some ofthe images relative to others of the images, the image of each page ofthe layout including an image of the respective media content of thepage; and communicating the layout.
 11. The method of claim 10, whereinthe hierarchical structure of the document is reflected in the mediacontent of the one or more pages of the document, or encoded in thedocument.
 12. The method of claim 10 further comprising: receiving arequest for media content and identify a page including the requestedmedia content, the identified page being of the document; and retrievingpages of the document including the identified page and one or moreother pages identified according to the associated metadata for theidentified page, the respective associated metadata includinginformation identifying one or more links between the identified pageand respective one or more other pages, wherein generating the layout ofpages includes generating a layout of the retrieved pages.
 13. Themethod of claim 10 further comprising: selecting one or more navigationoptions from a plurality of navigation options for navigating a visualpresentation of the layout, the navigation options being selectedaccording to the associated metadata for the pages of the layout; andcommunicating the selected navigation options.
 14. The method of claim10, wherein the associated metadata for each page also includesinformation specifying one or more of a size, location or depth of theimage of the respective page in the layout, and wherein for each of thepages of the layout, the layout is generated according to the one ormore of the size, location or depth specified by the informationprovided in the associated metadata.
 15. The method of claim 14, whereinfor each of one or more of the pages of the layout, the page is in astate including images at respective resolutions of the page, and theassociated metadata provides information specifying at least the size ofthe image of the respective page in the layout, and wherein for each ofone or more of the pages of the layout, generating the layout includesretrieving the page for the image at a resolution that matches the sizespecified by the information provided in the associated metadata. 16.The method of claim 15, wherein for each of one or more of the pages ofthe layout, the associated metadata provides information specifying atleast the size of the image of the respective page in the layout, thesize being specified relative to one or more others of the retrievedpages.
 17. The method of claim 8, wherein the images of the pages of thelayout include images of pages at a higher level and images of pages ata lower level in the hierarchical structure, and wherein generating thelayout includes generating the layout in which the images of pages atthe higher level are at the same depth as and above the images of pagesat the lower level, and larger in size relative to the images of pagesat the lower level.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein generating thelayout includes generating the layout in which the images of pages atthe lower level have an aspect ratio that constrains the imagescollectively to a width of the images of pages at the higher level. 19.A computer-readable storage medium that is non-transitory and hascomputer-readable program code portions stored therein that, in responseto execution by a processor, cause an apparatus to at least: receive anddisassemble an electronic document into a plurality of constituent pagesthat are groupings of media content of the electronic document betweenbasic breaking points, each page including respective media content, thedocument having a hierarchical structure defined according to aparticular schema; colligate the pages, including being caused toprovide associated metadata for each page of the plurality, theassociated metadata for each page being according to some metadataschema and providing structured information identifying a link betweenthe page and one or more other pages of the plurality, the linkestablishing a hierarchical relationship between the respective pagesaccording to the hierarchical structure of the document; generate alayout of pages of the document, the layout including a panopticarrangement of images of the pages of the layout according to theassociated metadata of the respective pages, the associated metadata forat least one page of the layout including information identifying one ormore links between the respective page and one or more other pages ofthe layout, the panoptic arrangement being two-dimensional and thehierarchical relationship between the respective pages being expressedin the panoptic arrangement by a difference in size of at least some ofthe images relative to others of the images, the image of each page ofthe layout including an image of the respective media content of thepage; and communicate the layout.
 20. The computer-readable storagemedium of claim 19, wherein the hierarchical structure of the documentis reflected in the media content of the one or more pages of thedocument, or encoded in the document.
 21. The computer-readable storagemedium of claim 19, wherein the computer-readable storage medium hasfurther computer-readable program code portions stored therein that, inresponse to execution by the processor, cause the apparatus to further:receive a request for media content and identify a page including therequested media content, the identified page being of the document; andretrieve pages of the document including the identified page and one ormore other pages identified according to the associated metadata for theidentified page, the respective associated metadata includinginformation identifying one or more links between the identified pageand respective one or more other pages, wherein the apparatus beingcaused to generate the layout of pages includes being caused to generatea layout of the retrieved pages.
 22. The computer-readable storagemedium of claim 19, wherein the computer-readable storage medium hasfurther computer-readable program code portions stored therein that, inresponse to execution by the processor, cause the apparatus to further:select one or more navigation options from a plurality of navigationoptions for navigating a visual presentation of the layout, thenavigation options being selected according to the associated metadatafor the pages of the layout; and communicate the selected navigationoptions.
 23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, whereinthe associated metadata for each page also includes informationspecifying one or more of a size, location or depth of the image of therespective page in the layout, and wherein for each of the pages of thelayout, the apparatus is caused to generate the layout according to theone or more of the size, location or depth specified by the informationprovided in the associated metadata.
 24. The computer-readable storagemedium of claim 23, wherein for each of one or more of the pages of thelayout, the page is in a state including images at respectiveresolutions of the page, and the associated metadata providesinformation specifying at least the size of the image of the respectivepage in the layout, and wherein for each of one or more of the pages ofthe layout, the apparatus being caused to generate the layout includesbeing caused to retrieve the page for the image at a resolution thatmatches the size specified by the information provided in the associatedmetadata.
 25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 24, whereinfor each of one or more of the pages of the layout, the associatedmetadata provides information specifying at least the size of the imageof the respective page in the layout, the size being specified relativeto one or more others of the retrieved pages.
 26. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 19, wherein the images of the pages of thelayout include images of pages at a higher level and images of pages ata lower level in the hierarchical structure, and wherein the apparatusis caused to generate the layout in which the images of pages at thehigher level are at the same depth as and above the images of pages atthe lower level, and larger in size relative to the images of pages atthe lower level.
 27. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 26,wherein the apparatus is caused to generate the layout in which theimages of pages at the lower level have an aspect ratio that constrainsthe images collectively to a width of the images of pages at the higherlevel.